Gold Dig #21

Animal is another of several restaurants by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo that make appearances on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. In addition to Animal, Jon and Vinny have Son of a Gun, Jon & Vinny’s, Petit Trois, and Trois Mec – all within about a 3-mile radius in the Fairfax area. So far I’ve only been to Animal and Petit Trois (check out my Petit Trois post), but based on my great experiences at both of those, the others are definitely on my list to get to! Animal is, I think, the trendiest. It’s a super loud, very dimly lit (thus the terrible pics), small rectangular space with a bar at the end. In oh-so-LA fashion, it doesn’t have a sign, but I give them a pass because the food is adventurous and so darn good.

The Dish

According to its website, Animal is “celebrated for its offal specialties & other meat plates”. I like meat, and am always up for trying some as of yet unexplored animal part. So Animal has been on my list for a long time. I was so excited to finally go, and it was worth the wait!

Pig Ear

You can’t really see it, but underneath this fresh market egg are strips of pig ear flavored with red chili and lime. I like pig ear, so was really looking forward to this dish. Surprisingly, it was my least favorite. The chili and lime somewhat overpowered the flavor of the pig ear, leaving it a little soggy and robbed of the crisp porkiness that is what I enjoy about pig ear.

Veal Brains

I am always excited to try a menu item I can’t get many other places. So the veal brains were a must for me. My dinner-mate was wary, but to his credit he braved a small piece. He acknowledged it was quite good – crisp outside, very rich and soft in the middle, nice to have the contrasting sweetness of the apricot puree. If he didn’t know what it was, he would have eaten more. But he couldn’t quite get past his squeamishness, so he passed the rest to me, which I happily polished off.

Marrow Bone

I remember sucking the marrow from bones when I was a kid, back when it was a weird Asian thing to do. Now Marrow Bone seems to have edged even past the trendy stage, to where every restaurant with aspirations has it. Like brussel sprouts five years ago. But I always enjoy it, and people rave about the Marrow Bone at Animal, so we figured we ought to try it. Topped with chimichurri to cut some of the richness, it was tasty but not all that different from other marrow I’ve had. You are pretty much just cutting open a bone and roasting it, so I don’t know why I expected it would be.

 Fried Rabbit Legs

The Fried Rabbit Legs, on the other hand (or should I say foot, haha), were glorious! So tender on the inside, crisp and lemony on the outside. They came on a bed of rice and fall veggies with white gravy that were the perfect accompaniment of texture and subtle flavors to complement but not overwhelm the rabbit. This is one of the larger dishes at Animal, but we scraped the plate clean.

Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar

The Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar is actually how I heard about Animal. Strange that the dessert would be the draw at a place known for serving animal parts. But it’s topped with bacon, so it’s true to the spirit and name of the place. The chocolate is dark and dense, the bacon salty and a little chewy. It comes with salt and pepper ice cream. People talk about the Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar for good reason.

Tres Leches

We also got the Tres Leches, because if one dessert is good, two is better. The cake is light and very moist and comes on a small pool of dulce de leche. Sort of the opposite dessert to the Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar.